Angel Hunter

Chapter 9: Visions

Aislinn had one of the Nephilim or Michael with her at all times, or otherwise she had one of the other four she'd been introduced to as well as Michael or one of the other Nephilim. It wasn't a widely known fact that Matthew was in fact Aislinn's brother. He was in his early twenties, 23. The only ones who did know were the other Nephilim, Michael and Kane who'd sniffed them and then asked them if they were aware they were siblings. They both gave him looks.

Aislinn had spent a lot of time with the trainers, teaching them what she had been taught all her life. She taught them how hunters fought, how they fought each natural. She taught them the weaknesses hunters used, the things they were taught to look for. For vampires, obviously stakes, demons, holy water, faeries, solid iron, werewolves, silver and their mates, warlocks, hemlock, mages, straight weapons of any kind, Angels, well, only pures were taught to fight Angels. You had to catch them by surprise, trick them, or take someone they wanted to protect. Sirens voices only had to be neutralized, and shade walkers had to be burned alive. She taught them every trick she'd ever learned. When she wasn't doing that, she was meeting with the school's elite. Planning for every attack idea and pattern. She knew Arcadia was the only school with magic defenses that still worked. She reviewed the plans for as many schools as she could, writing suggestions and weaknesses all over the maps and diagrams. Michael was with her for this, more often than not. They started small, only having her work on schools in North America, a total of three. There were older schools with more protection in Europe, and one in Canada. The school in Canada wanted Aislinn there in person to revise their security and help train them. She agreed, but Michael did not. While he knew she wanted to help, trying to get there would be dangerous. That was still nearly three weeks away. It was three days after the archery exhibition when Aislinn suddenly froze up in the middle of teaching the trainers. She didn't move, eyes blank and unseeing. Michael had been nowhere close by, but he knew exactly when it happened. He stood, chair crashing backward and raced out of the library, a backpack in hand. He already had a pencil and sketchbook in his hands. He arrived within seconds, shoving both into her hands and forcing her to sit. Immediately her hand flew across the page, drawing with perfect clarity. She stopped and shook her head, she looked pale.

"What did you see?" She held up the sketchbook. It was a battlefield, he knew that from experience. The rest of the day, she stayed in the dorms. The tiger curled up next to her. Michael sat with her.

"Are you alright?"

"I don't know. Everything is backwards and wrong and confusing. I've gotten more and more visions, another about an hour back. I can't stand this! I'm trying to keep everyone safe, but all I can see is death." Michael pulled her into his lap.

"Look at me Angeling. I know, I understand. I am the warrior angel, I saw death everywhere I went. Still I protected the people I could with whatever I had. I didn't save them all, but I saved enough, I saved them when they otherwise would have died. You're saving lives, maybe not everyone, but you're saving more lives by doing what you're doing." She hugged him and he slowly wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her gently. He moved on to less provoking topics. He asked her about her training, her life. He asked her about her favorite things and she asked him in return. She was still curled up in his lap when the other Nephilim returned.
They all stopped to stare. Michael was not known for showing emotion or being cuddly or empathetic. It seemed Aislinn had turned everything they knew about him on its head. They looked to be having some kind of conversation, but neither were speaking. As the trip to Canada got closer and closer, Aislinn had more visions, more visions of death and battle. There were times Michael would bolt in the middle of the night, only to be in Aislinn's room, trying to calm her down.